I love how it retains a familiar feel, but at the same time it's so completely different.

- The acting and cutscenes are fan-****ing-tastic. Niko's already hilarious in a calm, bemused sort of way, and I'm only five missions in.
- Driving is INCREDIBLY fun, but at the same time a lot tougher than it used to be.
- Melee combat kind of resembles Bully, only a thousand times more varied and engaging. It's also a lot of fun.
- The filter is incredibly jarring at first, but after 15-20 minutes it feels more natural, and now with a couple of hours under my belt I'm fully appreciating the beauty of the game. The lighting really is everything it was cracked up to be.
- The density of everything (buildings, cars, people, radio stations) is absolutely awe-inspiring. The peds are awesome and the variety of cars I've seen so far (just in Broker, mind) is great and the traffic patterns seem to be a perfect balance between reality and playability.
- Stealing cars is a little more deliberate, or at least it feels that way. It's a nice improvement.
- Speaking of density, I haven't had any "turn around and the cars are gone" moments yet, thank God.
- "Goodbye Horses" is playing on the apartment radio right now.
- Radio Vladivostok is so ****ing catchy. Still not sure I luuuurv the radio as much as I did in Vice City, but I've probably only heard 4% of it so far. I did hear a very short but amusing interview with a certain extremely popular radio host from previous games, though.

So I knocked some guy's cup of coffee out of his hands, picked it up, and threw it at him. I missed and hit another guy in the head, knocking his sunglasses off. For some reason, they both wanted to kick my ass after that, so I went mano a mano (a mano?) with the guy until a cop showed up and promised us all the beating of a lifetime.

Not satisfied with this situation, one of the mother****ers PULLS OUT A GUN AND A GUNFIGHT BETWEEN COP AND PED ENSUES. Jesus, this game is amazing.

So I knocked some guy's cup of coffee out of his hands, picked it up, and threw it at him. I missed and hit another guy in the head, knocking his sunglasses off. For some reason, they both wanted to kick my ass after that, so I went mano a mano (a mano?) with the guy until a cop showed up and promised us all the beating of a lifetime.

Not satisfied with this situation, one of the mother****ers PULLS OUT A GUN AND A GUNFIGHT BETWEEN COP AND PED ENSUES. Jesus, this game is amazing.

So...just to get this straight. We can choose to not carry out missions (like choosing not to kill someone) but still get 100% completion, right?

Quote:

Actually, Niko doesn't have to do everything that is asked of him. On several occasions as you play through his story, you'll be presented with decisions that afford you the option of doing what you think is right rather than blindly following instructions. You don't necessarily have to kill a target if he or she promises to disappear, but you have to weigh the risk of your employer finding out against the possibility that the person whose life you spare might prove useful later in the game, or even have work for you in the form of bonus missions.

Also, I find the text messages on my phone incredibly hard to read. Anyway to get that zoomed in or appear on a different screen? For example, the first text you get is from Roman, and I can only make out, "come here quick"

I love how it retains a familiar feel, but at the same time it's so completely different.

- The acting and cutscenes are fan-****ing-tastic. Niko's already hilarious in a calm, bemused sort of way, and I'm only five missions in.
- Driving is INCREDIBLY fun, but at the same time a lot tougher than it used to be.
- Melee combat kind of resembles Bully, only a thousand times more varied and engaging. It's also a lot of fun.
- The filter is incredibly jarring at first, but after 15-20 minutes it feels more natural, and now with a couple of hours under my belt I'm fully appreciating the beauty of the game. The lighting really is everything it was cracked up to be.
- The density of everything (buildings, cars, people, radio stations) is absolutely awe-inspiring. The peds are awesome and the variety of cars I've seen so far (just in Broker, mind) is great and the traffic patterns seem to be a perfect balance between reality and playability.
- Stealing cars is a little more deliberate, or at least it feels that way. It's a nice improvement.
- Speaking of density, I haven't had any "turn around and the cars are gone" moments yet, thank God.
- "Goodbye Horses" is playing on the apartment radio right now.
- Radio Vladivostok is so ****ing catchy. Still not sure I luuuurv the radio as much as I did in Vice City, but I've probably only heard 4% of it so far. I did hear a very short but amusing interview with a certain extremely popular radio host from previous games, though.

Are you playing it on the 360 or PS3? I'll probably get it today or tonight. I'm leaning toward the 360 version because I heard an interview with one of the developers and he said the 360 was the way to go, although IGN said the PS3 version might be a tiny bit better.

Are you playing it on the 360 or PS3? I'll probably get it today or tonight. I'm leaning toward the 360 version because I heard an interview with one of the developers and he said the 360 was the way to go, although IGN said the PS3 version might be a tiny bit better.